First Anniversary Gift Ideas: Paper

Last week when I posted about my first anniversary, I received some great emails and comments about more first anniversary gift ideas. In case you don't read blog comments, I wanted to share the links with you all!

I mentioned the handmade journal my husband bought for me and here are some other great ideas:

Hide-a-Heart

I love this idea! When my husband went to Africa for two weeks (read about it here, here, and here) I tucked little notes into his luggage-his toiletry bag, inside the pockets of his clothing, in his gloves, just about anywhere he would find one. He told me those little notes really got him through the tough days when he was sick and could barely make it up the mountain. These Hide-a-Hearts would have been another cool thing I could have wrapped up and hidden in his luggage. This would also be a great gift to give to your spouse with a handwritten note and it could start a trend for all the years to come of passing it back and forth!

Heidi's Heavenly Cookies

You could get your spouse a box of these bad boys and include a nice love letter about the dozens of ways he makes you happy!

Handmade Paper cuts fromMade by Julene

What a great idea (thanks to Meredith for sending it my way)! One of my previous brides had a personalized paper cut made for her husband for their first anniversary. The paper cut included lyrics from their first song-how romantic! Check out Made by Julene for more info!

Some other ideas:

Custom photo album

Maybe you could use your one anniversary as the time to finally get all your photos organized and into an album (I STILL have not done this!) or better yet you could spice things up by having a boudoir photo shoot and making a sexy album for your hubby!

Tickets to "fill-in-the-blank"

Your one year anniversary would be a great time to embark on a new hobby together. Maybe give tickets for your first local play together, an invitation to a cooking class, a gift certificate for dance lessons together, or a menu from a local wine bar that hosts weekly wine tastings (with the promise to go!).

All these ideas make me want to go shopping for my next year anniversary gifts (which is cotton by the way). Better slow down!

Cool Drink Accessories: Stir Sticks, Straws, & Garnishes

I'm a huge fan of dressing up my drinks so today's post gives you some great ideas for adding some flair to your next cocktail party.

Preppy Drink Flags:

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Cranberry Stir Stick:

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Candy Cane Stir Stick:

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Candy Cane Stir Stick:

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Best Wishes Drink Flag:

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Monogram Drink Stirrers:

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Striped Straws:

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More Striped Straws:

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What's your favorite garnish? Mine used to be green olives but now it is pretty much anything sweet!

The Man Cold

Does anyone else's husband/fiance/boyfriend do this? Pat is going to hate that I am saying this but he can be quite the baby when he isn't feeling well!

First Anniversary Gift Ideas

Like I said in yesterday's post about my first anniversary, I want to share with you the wonderful gift my husband gave me to celebrate our first year of marriage.

I had been dropping hints all month that since year one is paper, technically anything could be given if he paid in cash or check (geez, I sound so greedy!). I mentioned paper gift cards to spas, plane tickets to a beach resort, wads of money. You know, things I need.

Pat has always been a great gift giver (well, except for the first year we were dating when he gave me an apron and a gift card to the grocery store for a gift...ummm, what do you think I am?) so when our anniversary night rolled around, I knew whatever the gift, it would rock.

And it did. I cried (well, I'm a crybaby anyway) and I was blown away by how incredibly sweet it was.

Here goes.

Going with the paper theme, he got me a beautiful leather handmade journal. He included a note with the journal that he would like us to write little facts of life and advice in this journal throughout the years so that our children can have it when they are older. Maybe lessons we have learned, things that made us happy, or just anything at all.

I even thought that it would be soooo cool if we had a daughter and she carried this little leather journal down the aisle on the day she gets married. So you can see why I was in tears when I read the note.

I don't know how Pat has the time to come up with great gift ideas when he is busy studying and going to recruiting events for 80+ hours per week but all I can say is I am pretty lucky. Here is a picture of the journal Pat bought from Jenni Bick Bookbinding (stock photo from the Jenni Bick website)

Here's another beautiful option:

Check out the site for more journal ideas. If you have already celebrated your first anniversary, what gifts did you exchange with your spouse?

My First Anniversary

My husband and I celebrated our first anniversary last month. It's crazy to remember back to the day I met him. It was the summer of 69. Haha just kidding. It was June of 2004 and he was living alone in my best friend's 4 bedroom 3 bath rental property in Chandler. I had a falling out with my current roommate and was desperate for new digs so when my BFFL (pronounced biffle) told me I could rent a room in her Chandler house for free until I found something else, I was in. Hook line and sinker.

I rolled out of bed, threw on my nastiest moving sweats, loaded up my car, and headed to Chandler, excited to meet my new roomy and see the house.

I pulled into the driveway just as Pat was getting home from work. I'd seen him before but never actually met him so I couldn't really remember what he looked like and didn't know anything else about him. When he stepped out of his car and I had a good look at him, I immediately regretted the ridiculous outfit I was wearing. Cut off sweatpants, sneakers, a wife beater, and greasy hair. Add some Arizona summer sweat to that and you've got a scary scene. Damn it. I wanted to get back in the car, drive away, get dolled up, and then come back in a fashionable sundress and heels-duh, isn't that how everyone dresses when they are moving?

Well, that wasn't an option so I had to roll with it. Anyway, Pat must not have been too put off by it because 3 years later, he flew to Iowa while I was visiting my mom and surprise proposed to me in front of my whole family. Wow.

It's no surprise that when he showed up to surprise me, I was dressed like a bum. No makeup. Had just finished eating red onions. Had been crying all morning because we had a death in the family. Was exhausted. He must have been having flashbacks to the day we met.

Here are a few pictures from that day. Looking like this, I'm lucky he didn't change his mind! (And yes, those are bangs. Not my best look)

My blurry ring shot, the first time taking a picture of it

Us out celebrating that night. I could not believe we were engaged! That's my goofy brother in the background.

Who would have thought that after all these years we would end up in Chicago, at business school, in a totally different situation than we ever could have imagined.

Up next, our first anniversary gifts...

Free Printable "Gettin Hitched" door hanger

I came across this free download and thought you might enjoy. They are from Benign Objects(a small design company in Minnesota) and would look adorable hanging from your wedding day suite!

Download here.